Symbols on American Money (2007), USA społeczeństwo, historia, polityka
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MONEY
on
Symbols American
MONEY
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About the Essay
This essay is based on a lecture
given by Stephen L. Goldsmith,
on May 22, 2007, at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
The Reserve Bank and Smythe
and Company, one of New York’s
oldest and largest coin and
paper money auctioneers and
dealers, are co-sponsoring this
publication as part of the
Bank’s economic education
and public information efforts.
About the Author
Stephen L. Goldsmith is the president of American Paper Money & Coin,
LLC. Formerly he was executive vice president and auction director at
R.M. Smythe & Company. He is a specialist in the ields of antique stocks
and bonds, bank notes, and coins. He holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College.
Goldsmith is also a former president of the Professional Currency Dealers
Association and was lead writer on the association’s irst publication,
Col-
lecting U.S. Obsolete Currency
. He is the editor of
Collecting Confederate Paper
Money
, winner of a Numismatic Book-of-the-Year Award in 2005, and the
editor of
An Illustrated Catalogue of Early North American Advertising Notes
. He
directed the appraisals of the coin and currency collections at the New
Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
Symbols American
P
aper money has circulated in America at least as
far back as colonial times. But how did American
currency come to look the way it does? What do all
the symbols on our money mean?
Symbolism on the One Dollar Bill
Look at the image of perhaps the world’s most instantly recognizable paper money — the $1 U.S. Federal
Reser ve note. What does it mean to you? Despite our familiarity with this particular currency note, many of
us have never looked closely at its design and symbolism. As you’ll learn as you read on, American currency
displays many signiicant symbols. Once you know what they mean, you may never look at your money in
quite the same way.
Perhaps the most univer-
sally renowned symbol
to appear on American
paper money is front and
center on our $1 Federal
Reser ve notes. George
Washington, our nation’s
irst president, is a nation-
ally recognized symbol of
unity and trust. But he
was not always there.
The $1 legal tender note,
issued by the United States
during the Civil War, was
the irst widely circulated
U.S. $1 bill (top of page 3).
It features Salmon P. Chase,
Secretar y of the Treasur y.
Symbolism was ver y much
on the minds of Treasur y
oficials when they were contemplating the design for the Treasur y seal (in red on the left side of the note
on page 3). They decided that the number of spikes surrounding the Treasur y seal should equal the number
of states in the Union, which was 34 before the start of the Civil War. A problem arose because seven states
had seceded from the Union by Februar y 1861 and four more left in April of that year. However, the patriotic
Treasur y viewed the situation as temporar y and proceeded to include 34 spikes on its seal. The note shown
on page 3 was issued in 1862.
$1 legal
tender note,
issued in
1862
On the front of today’s $1 note, you see the modern U.S. Treasur y
seal (shown at right). The balancing scales represent justice. In the
center of the seal, the chevron’s 13 stars represent the 13 original
colonies. The key underneath is an emblem of oficial authority.
According to the Treasur y Department, the original seal, which
was ver y similar to the one shown here, was designed by Francis
Hopkinson, a delegate to the Continental Congress. The present,
more streamlined design was approved in Januar y 1968.
Note also the Federal Reser ve System seal. Previously, the seal of a Federal
Reser ve Bank was printed on each bill of all denominations. But beginning with
the $100 bill in 1996, a general seal representing the Federal Reser ve System
began replacing individual Reser ve Bank seals, and this general seal is now
used on all of our higher denomination notes. The $1 and $2 bills still carr y the
District seals, which feature a letter that indicates the issuing Reser ve Bank.
Philadelphia, which is the Third Federal Reser ve District, is designated with the
letter C on the note on page 2.
But it is the reverse side of the $1 note that
holds the most meaning. Our Founding
Fathers were deeply aware of the importance
of symbols. In fact, before the adjournment
of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, a
committee was appointed to create a seal that
would symbolize America’s ideals. The commit-
tee included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,
and Benjamin Franklin — three of the drafters
of the Declaration of Independence.
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